No, not yet. Should be very close according to Bill Cummiskey, the VP of Artist Relations at Fender. I've been bugging him about it. Bill is a very cool guy. I didn't have much interaction with him when I was at Fender but we were working in the same building and would run into each other and say hello every now and then. Believe me, if I had the guitar, I would have started a whole new thread about it with a bunch of photos! _________________Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.

This is another item that has been long-time coming. Dave at Red Bear and I've had a good relationship for many years since Guthrie introduced me to the picks after Dweezil Zappa gave him one to try during NAMM. I've been a strictly Red Bear guy since then myself.

I knew that a GG signature pick has been in the works for a while now and I was curious. So late last year, Dave sent me a couple of prototypes to check out. My understanding was that it was the Big Jazzer in heavy gauge with the speed bevels and the serrated edges on top that Guthrie would use to make high-pitched scraping noises as well as using it like a slide to access very high notes beyond the fingerboard.

So I got the prototypes as shown below.

I had been using the Big Jazzer heavy gauge without the speed bevels and I thought the only differences were the bevels and the serrated edges. I also have some Big Jazzers with the bevels and preferred the pointy tip. Then I tried these prototypes and immediately noticed that it was thicker - a good deal thicker.

So I told Dave that this definitely doesn't feel like heavy - probably extra heavy. He said that he was certain that it was the heavy gauge. He then asked me to measure the thickness with a caliper and told him it was a tad over 2.0mm, which is definitely a good deal thicker than the heavy gauge which he said was around 1.4~1.6mm. I even sent him a photo of the caliper showing 2.07mm reading. Dave said that it wasn't supposed to be that thick. It was a mistake.

Anyway, I found that I actually preferred the thicker gauge. It sounded warmer and bigger sounding although, admittedly, it wasn't as "fast" as the pointier non-bevel Big Jazzer. Now I was at a quandary. I do like the sharper non-bevel version for fast picking and doing the metal chugga-chugga stuff but the thicker prototype with the bevels felt smoother with a more positive attack (more surface hitting the string) and sounded bigger and thicker.

Well, I then hooked up with Guthrie in SF in early-Feb for the last Aristocrats show of the NAMM tour and showed him the two prototype picks. He also noticed right away that they were thicker than the prototypes he had. So I gave Guthrie one of the two I had and told him to give it a try.

He advised me later that he did indeed prefer the thicker gauge as well. In fact, he said that he used that one pick for the entire 45-date tour of Europe in March and April. Yes, one pick for the entire tour. That's a lot of notes that one pick produced over all those shows - more good notes than us mere mortals can produce in a lifetime.

Anyway, so that's how the final signature pick ended up being the extra heavy gauge. I still prefer the Big Jazzer heavy gauge without the bevels which I have the most of for certain aforementioned things but I have to say that the extra heavy with the bevels is my favorite pick now. Again, you can't have everything in one pick either just like you can't have everything in one guitar or one amp. Looking forward to getting a few more of the final version in Brown Agate. Looks nice and warm. _________________Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.